WINNIPEG — Twin sisters who want to play hockey on their high school’s boys team have won the case they took before the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.

In her ruling released Friday, adjudicator Lynne Harrison said the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association discriminated against the girls based on their sex.

Amy and Jesse Pasternak, who are now in Grade 12, told the commission during a hearing in June that they want to continue playing contact hockey as they have for years in Winnipeg boys leagues.

The twins called their high school girls team a joke and said some girls had trouble simply skating.

However, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the ruling will help the girls play this year. Under current association rules, girls can only play on boys teams if their school doesn’t have an all-girls team.

Morris Glimcher, executive director of the association, said he’s surprised and disappointed with the ruling.

He said the association won’t immediately change its policy and will consider an appeal.

“It doesn’t seem to be consistent with the expert evidence that we presented and it’s not consistent with how the public views high school sports … from the feedback we’ve gotten.”

He pointed out the girls were allowed to try out for the boys team this year because the commission’s ruling was delayed until after tryouts had begun. He did not know whether they were chosen.

Glimcher also said the wording of the commission’s ruling leaves the association open to several complicated circumstances.

“The commission has said if you have the ability to make a team, you should make the team. But what about boys? If the boys have the ability to make a girls team, should they be allowed?

“If it’s strictly merit- based or ability-based it opens up a whole ball of wax.”

At the June hearing, the athletic association’s lawyer argued the group acted in good faith by ensuring school sports programs focus on participation, not skill level.

The association’s lawyer suggested at the time there could be far-reaching implications for how high school sports are organized if the girls won their case.

Lawyer Sarah Lugtig, who represented the girls, said they just wanted to be judged on their merits and were not asking for special consideration.

The hearing also heard the twins didn’t feel they could develop their skills as well playing with other girls.

Laura Solberg, former head coach of the University of Manitoba’s women’s hockey team, told the commission there is a safety concern for young women playing hockey with males past the bantam level.

She also pointed out Manitoba has some of the country’s best hockey programs for women.
Solberg said she had never heard of the Pasternak sisters prior to their human rights complaint.

The twins called their high school girls team a joke

Softball and volleyball teams aren't a joke.

Look, this is like someone saying "Well, the NBA won't draft me, so I should be able to go play in the WNBA as that's where my skill level is".

Look, this is like someone saying "Well, the NBA won't draft me, so I should be able to go play in the WNBA as that's where my skill level is".

i'm not sure why the boys don't want them.

i think that the ruling is incorrect, because there exists a female team (a crappy one, which sucks for the twins, but that is different topic), but if they truly are good enough to play on the boys team, why not let them?

are they threatened? do they think the girls will out play them?

i think the girls should be allowed to take that risk of playing on the boys team if they want to, and the boys should have no problems with a female teammate if that teammate pulls her weight.



the pros are different than high school so this argument is really not relevant.

well, if the boys are good enough to play on a girls team, should they be allowed?

What happens to the boys who get dropped to make way? Can they play on the girls team?

maybe all high school teams should go co-ed, and just separate into junior varsity and varsity. i think at the high school level, this could work, especially if it were implemented from kindergarten.

I hate to sound like an ass, but if that were to actually happen there would be alot of girls that wouldn't get any playing time at all.

In this particular case, it sounds like the girls should be placed on the boys team if they can play on the same level. What I think sucks about stuff like this is it gets so hyped up that instead of just letting the damn kids play on the team, it gets turned into some kind of giant leap for all of humankind.

Does this piss anyone else off?

No.

Twin Winnipeg girls who won right to play boys hockey fail to make the cut
Canadian Press
September 26, 2006

WINNIPEG (CP) - Twin girls who won the legal right to try out for a boys high school hockey team in Winnipeg have failed to make the squad.

Amy and Jesse Pasternak, who had played on community boys teams for years, called their school's girls' team a joke.

The 17-year-olds won a human rights decision Friday that allowed them to try out for the boys' team at West Kildonan Collegiate.

Both girls learned Tuesday that they were cut from the team.

The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association had refused to allow girls from playing on a boys' team, but an independent adjudicator ruled that the policy was discriminatory.

Tuesday was the final practice for the West Kildonan boys' team before the final roster was set.

The twins had been skating with the team since tryouts started last week.

i think the girls should be allowed to take that risk of playing on the boys team if they want to, and the boys should have no problems with a female teammate if that teammate pulls her weight.

I agree with this, but only in theory. In a perfect world teams would be chosen based solely on ability. But in reality, guys are faced with a catch 22 when playing coed contact sports. On one hand, you have a scenario where the women are treated differently because guys are afraid of hurting them. On the flipside of that, what happens when a girl gets drilled into the boards by a much bigger male opponent and gets seriously hurt? If it was a guy, then it would just be considered an unfortunate accident, but if it were a girl I could see it turning into a big mess.
I see absolutely no problem with non-contact sports like baseball, basketball etc...if a woman has enough skill to make the team and can compete with the men...fucking go for it. But for the same reason i wouldn't be comfortable with getting into a fist fight with a woman, i wouldn't be comfortable being put into a situation where i would be hitting her into the boards.

what about slamming a smaller guy into the boards? or a senior taking on a pipsqueak freshman?

Seriously people, this thread needs more than one crappy picture...

Seriously people, this thread needs more than one crappy picture...